Whitecaps plan to dig deep to shake Quakes
Vancouver aware it can’t take victory against MLS’s last-place team for granted
The San Jose Earthquakes might need a better cable package.
While coach Carl Robinson this week made bread over the time he spends watching film of other Major League Soccer teams, it almost seemed like last Saturday ’s Quakes had never seen video of Vancouver’s tendencies before.
The book on the Caps reads thusly: Strong on counters, free kicks and likes long passes over the top.
Lo and behold, Vancouver erased a two-goal deficit doing just that at Avaya Stadium, scoring off a turnover, from a free kick, and off a long-bomb pass.
Don’t expect them to make the same mistakes in today ’s rematch. And that goes for the Whitecaps (10-9-7) too, who fell behind on two first-half defensive mistakes the Quakes capitalized on.
“It’s just a lack of focus at times. Little things that we don’t pick up on, and then the whole mechanism of the machine breaks down. We’ve found ourselves in that situation a lot this year,” said Caps centreback Doneil Henry, whose team has surrendered two or more goals in 17 of its 26 games this season.
“We’ve had multiple games conceding a lot of goals. As time expires, and we’re chasing the playoffs, the margin for mistake is little to none.”
San Jose (4-14-8) comes into B.C. Place a tired but confident team after taking down FC Dallas. Wednesday’s worst-versus-first game was a barn burner, with four of the game’s seven goals coming in an 11-minute span in the second half, and Chris Wondolowski netting the winner in a 4-3 triumph.
It was the second time this month the Quakes had beaten the Toros, stretching their unbeaten streak against their Texas rivals to four games.
Wondo may have scored the winner, but it was Vako — Valeri Qazaishvili — scoring twice and setting up the deciding goal.
He has five goals and three assists in the Quakes’ four wins this season.
Going up against a team that’s taken out one of the league’s top teams — twice, in fact — and one that’s seen 12 of its 14 losses come by a single goal, Robinson says he’ll be vigilant about the threat posed by the West’s bottom-feeders.
“I stood here seven games ago, and you guys were talking as if it was a gimme that we should go down to San Jose and win,” said the Whitecaps’ coach.
“And that’s what football’s about. No one expected San Jose to beat Dallas, but I quietly did after the way they performed against us. We’re under no illusions — it’s going to be a very tough game for us.”
The Caps and Quakes previously played to a 2-2 tie at B.C. Place Stadium in May, a game Vancouver opened the scoring in, only to fall behind after giving up two goals on either side of halftime. Yordy Reyna came through with the equalizer midway through the second half, his header off a cross deflecting in off the back of Quakes defender Shea Salinas.
“Hopefully we can get a 90-minute game, because we’ve been very good at producing halves of football,” said Robinson.
“I think only two or three times this season we’ve produced a 90-minute performance, which will be the target not just this game, but every game between now and the end of the season.”
There are just eight games left on the slate, and given the slim margin of points between the teams in the West, the final playoff berths are still up for grabs.
There will likely be plenty of movement in the standings today, with the four teams just ahead of the Caps (37 points) — Seattle (38), L.A. Galaxy (38), Real Salt Lake (41) and Portland (38) — all in action. RSL and the Galaxy play at the same time as the Caps.
Oddsmakers have the Timbers and Sounders both above 80 per cent likely to make the post-season, with RSL at a healthy 73 per cent.
The Whitecaps, whose five-game unbeaten streak is bettered only by Seattle and Sporting KC in the West, are just a shade above the L.A. Galaxy (29 per cent) at 30, but Henry isn’t buying the numbers.
“I don’t know why people keep saying we’re out of the playoffs, we’re not going to make it,” he said. “It’s a very interesting situation, and mathematically, we’re nowhere near out of it.”